New member nominated, appointed to Elk Grove Planning Commission

New member nominated, appointed to Elk Grove Planning Commission

During last night’s meeting, Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, with the city council’s consensus, appointed a new member to the five-person Elk Grove Planning Commission.

After hearing from several of the nine candidates seeking the appointment, Singh-Allen selected Mr. Varinder Singh (who is not related to the mayor, pictured above). During public comment, several people spoke on behalf of Mr. Singh.

During city council deliberations, Councilmember Darren Suen advocated for the nomination of Irfan Mehmood. Suen noted that Mr. Mehood has been involved in many community organizations, and this was his third attempt to receive a planning commission appointment.

In his comments, Mehmood, who lives in the rural community, noted that Singh-Allen appointed the first African-American woman and Indian to the city council and said he would be honored to serve as the commission’s first Muslim-American.

“I speak for the Muslin-American community here, we’d love to have you appoint the first Muslim-American to the planning commission,” Mehood said.

Speaking on his behalf (see video below), Singh said he has resided in Elk Grove for over 20 years and has been a rural resident “for a few years” and has a degree from UC Davis in community and regional development with an emphasis in organization management and policy planning. He also said he has studied the city general plan extensively and wants to ensure the city council District 2 rural area has an advocate.

During her commentary, the mayor said her highest priority is that the appointee lives in the rural area of District 2. Singh-Allen also said the opinion of former planning commissioner George Murphey, who served on the commission for 17 years, weighed heavily in her nomination decision.

Singh will be sworn in during the next planning commission meeting.